


The Ride of Your Life

by nageesa



Category: Free!
Genre: Angst, M/M, SouHaruWeek, i really strayed from the motorcycle theme I'M SORRY, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-05
Updated: 2014-12-05
Packaged: 2018-02-28 06:23:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2721983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nageesa/pseuds/nageesa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Yo, Nanase. Come with me for a bit."</p><p>Set after Sousuke's totally vague confrontation in Epsiode 11. </p><p>or in which the only way Haru can face his problems is if someone dragged him someplace faraway (not really).</p><p>Entry for SouHaru Week Day 5: Motorcycles</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Ride of Your Life

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Free! obviously. (If I did, oh how the ships would sail)  
> All characters are owned by Kyoto Animation and most of the dialogue from the flashback scene belong to the Free! writers.

 

Haru doesn't know how he got here, honestly. One minute ago he had been on his way home from school, the next he's zipping through town on a motorcycle seated behind someone he hardly knew. The motorcycle was going far too fast for his comfort, and his hands start to tense up at his sides.

"Nanase, you can hold on to me if you want."

Haru reluctantly grips the driver's jacket. He thinks he hears him chuckle softly.

 

 

 

_"What do you want?"_

_"At the tournament, you stopped in the middle of the race."_

_"That's none of your concern."_

_"Maybe not, but it concerns Rin. If you stop, Rin could end up stopping too."_

_"You've come to hound me about that before."_

_"I still don't acknowledge you, but you are important to Rin. You understand that, don't you?"_

_"So what?"_

_"Swimming with you brings out Rin's potential. He needs you."_

_"Why are you always so concerned about Rin?"_

_"I want him to stand on the international stage. The international stage that I couldn't stand on. You have incredible ability. So you need to stop wasting time. Take a step forward! That's all I wanted to say."_

_Haru shifts uncomfortably. He's got nothing to say to that. Why should Yamazaki care about anything he does?_

_Sousuke lets out a deep sigh. "It's always into one ear and out the other with you. Isn't it, Nanase?" A scowl plastered itself onto Haru's face._

_"That's not true." "Are you done with class? I want to take you somewhere." Sousuke asks, shoving his hands deep into his pockets. Haru steps back immediately. "Why would I want to go anywhere with you?"_

_"Look. Believe me, I would like to limit our time together as much as possible. As much as I'd like that, you're not listening to me and I'm pretty sure it takes more than talking to get the message through your thick skull. So I'm going to show you." Skeptical, Haru begins to turn around to leave._

_"Please."_

_This one word stops him in his tracks. Coming from a big guy like Yamazaki, it sounds kinda weird. "Please." Sousuke repeats. "For Rin." Haru rolls his eyes. "Whatever."_

 

 

 

So now he's at the back of a motorcycle, scared for his life, because he's never ridden one in all of his 17 years. The wind blows his hair all over, and he's terrified that it won't be the only thing blowing away soon."Can you slow down?" Haru hisses loudly. Sousuke shakes his helmet-covered head. "Deal with it, Nanase."

He grips Sousuke's jacket tighter.

Haru flinches as they they take a sharp turn. "Seriously, slow down. I might barf all over you." They screech to a stop. "Don't worry. We're here." Sousuke says as he kicks down the side stand. Haru stumbles off the motorcycle, clutching at his stomach. He pants heavily and rests his hands on a nearby tree. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Sousuke take off his helmet. He casually runs a hand through his hair, mussing it up. Haru stares at him, momentarily distracted.

"What?" Sousuke snaps. Haru shakes his head in disbelief and tries to get a hold of his breathing. He's probably still too dizzy to think straight.

A few seconds later they're heading into the Samezuka indoor swimming pool. "Why are we here?" Haru asks, already knowing the answer. Sousuke drops his school bag and kneels down to rummage through it. "We're going to race." he answers absentmindedly.

Haru glances over at the pool, his eyes glazing over. The moonlight peers softly into the area, making the water shine. Despite this, he tears his eyes away. "I don't have my swimming trunks." he lies. Haru bites his lip. As much as he would love to go for a dip, his mind goes back to the relay they had won a few days ago. Sousuke's angry, bruising shoulder still plagues his mind. He had swum with that, with that _thing_  hurting and causing hell-raising pain. Haru could only imagine how hard it was for Sousuke.

Sousuke stops going through his things and looks up at Haru. He raises his eyebrows. "You and I both know that you're literally wearing them right now." Haru steps forward, ready to argue. "Yamazaki, I don't think-" "My shoulder...is already ruined beyond repair." Sousuke responds with a shaky breath. "I know what you're thinking. I appreciate the thought but I don't want your pity. Race me." Haru shakes his head. Sousuke smiles softly. "One small race couldn't add any more damage to it even if I tried."

Haru's heart does a weird flip at his words. It's awful, really. Nobody deserves that kind of pain. The pain of wanting something so bad and working so hard for it, that you get it, but have it taken away as quickly as it was given to you.

"Okay."

"Freestyle, 100 meters. I'm just going to get changed." Sousuke says as he stands up, swimming trunks in hand, and walks towards the locker room. Haru quickly takes off his pants to reveal that, he was in fact, wearing his swimming trunks. He dives straight into the pool, not caring to wait for Sousuke. He floats around, happy to finally be in the water. Just as Haru starts to wonder if this was actually a good idea, a laugh shakes him out of it. He stands up and sees Sousuke smile.

"Rin was right. You _are_  obsessed with water." Haru lets out an indignant huff. "Are we racing or not, Yamazaki?" he mutters, getting out of the pool. "We are." Sousuke responds, already in the diving position. Haru bends to the same, but stops to eye Sousuke's shoulder. It looks exactly the same.

He pushes his thoughts inside and gets ready to swim. "Don't hold back." he hears Sousuke mumble. He nods. Sousuke begins counting down.

"Three."

Haru tells himself to calm down and to just swim, to push everything aside and just swim.

"Two."

He begs himself to not think about Yamazaki, to stop thinking about his shoulder and how he's never going to swim again.

"One."

As Haru dives into the water, his own mind betrays him. Thoughts of unfulfilled dreams, lost hopes, and broken shoulders fill his head. Yamazaki is all he could think about in this moment. Anger and sadness swirl inside his heart. _It's not fair. It's not fair. It's not fair._

At the turn, Haru uses his emotions to propel himself forward. _He worked so hard and this is what he gets? A broken shoulder? It's not fair._

Finally he touches the wall of the pool. Haru quickly surfaces. He sees Sousuke touch the wall and surface as well. His face immediately contorts in pain. Sousuke grips at his bad shoulder and groans loudly. Haru hears him curse under his breath. "I shouldn't have let you swim." Haru says as Sousuke pulls himself out of the pool. He sees him sit down, eyes shut tightly. He doesn't respond.

"Yamazaki?" Haru asks worriedly and gets out of the pool as well. "Look...look at me." Sousuke wheezes. He groans again. "Nanase, I can't swim competitively ever again. I blew it...I blew my only shot."

Haru looks at Sousuke whimpering in pain. "You didn't need to hurt yourself to tell me that." he responds. Sousuke smiles despite the situation. "Yeah, well. You needed to see it." Haru looks away, cheeks heating up. "Nanase, you've got potential. And talent. So much talent." Sousuke continues. "Honestly, I didn't only do this for Rin." he chuckles softly. Haru looks back at Sousuke in surprise.

"I did it for myself too. I couldn't live with myself if you just...gave up. Swimming is important to you and to me. One of us can swim and the other one can't. You don't want to know how hard it is to go from winning medals to watching from the sidelines, believe me." Sousuke says softly.

"I may not know what you're going through right now, but I can tell you that it will pass. But if you give up swimming because of that, you're going to regret it for the rest of your life."

"This won't pass." Sousuke points at his shoulder. "It will never heal and it took me a long goddamn time to accept that. I'm so jealous of you, Nanase. You have no idea how jealous I am of you." Sousuke sighs heavily.

Haru starts to feel overwhelmed. Now matter how much he disliked Yamazaki, he still made a really good point. He doesn't know why, but he feels a strong urge to apologize. "Sorry." Haru mutters. Surprised, Sousuke chuckles. "Come on. I'll drive you home." Sousuke says. Haru scoffs. "Not with that shoulder." he replies. "Again, I don't want your pity." Sousuke reminds him. "I just want you to swim."

 

 

The drive back to Iwatobi seems more pleasant now. No loud cars honking, no noisy streets. Sousuke drives slowly due to his shoulder, much to Haru's relief. However, he still grips at Sousuke's back. It's peaceful, in a way. They manage to pass by the ocean, the smell of it calming his senses.

Much later, they arrive at the steps that lead to Haru's house. Haru steps down from the motorcycle. "Yamazaki...thank you." Haru mutters as he bows slightly. Sousuke takes off his helmet and waves his hand dismissively. "Don't mention it."

"You know, Nanase, we might not have liked each other before but," Sousuke says hesitantly. "But I'm glad we do now." he finally says.

"No more backing me up into vending machines and threatening me?" Haru asks sarcastically. Sousuke puts on a serious face. "Only if you deserve it." he deadpans. Haru looks momentarily afraid. Chuckling, Sousuke runs a hand through his hair. "I'm just joking. I'm...actually very sorry about that. It was uncalled for." "Yeah, it kinda was. Thank you again, Yamazaki." Haru says.

"Um, this might sound weird but...swim for me too. When you swim, you better swim for the both of us." Sousuke mutters as his cheeks turn red. Haru's does the same. "I will."

They say their goodbyes and Sousuke drives off as Haru walks up the stairs. Yamazaki didn't have to do any of that. He didn't need to take Haru to Samezuka, he didn't need to race him and show him his shoulder, but he did. Haru didn't know why Sousuke did it, but he is so grateful. He will forever be grateful for what he's done.

**Author's Note:**

> This was a mess, I'm sorry. I just really wanted to contribute something, okay?


End file.
